Potato harvesting machine



Aug. 16, 1932 M. LICHT POTATO amvmsnne cams Filed Sept. 20. 1930Patented Aug. 16, 1932 alum n w; or cAssEL, uinlan? po'raro HARVESTINGMACEfNE A plication filed.Scpt ember20, -1930,-Seria1 No. 483,300,:1ndin Germany/October; 1929.

The known potato harvesting machines, in which the potato ridge dug bythe sharej must be fed toa'jsifting device, such asfor example jhorizontal rotating siftingwheels', are open 5 to theobjcction, that thelower roll of thef elevator necessary for raising theimassfronr the.share and which'wasusediin the shape of a circulat ng endless bar grate,was of such diameter n view of the easy runnlng and manner of operationof the elevator that the operation of'thc machine was greatly impairedby the friction of the elevators. In

view of the manner of working of .theshare and its practical positionhowever the di- 1 ameter must be kept smaller than the above conditionswould allow. Ithas been found, that elevators for raising theearthloosened by the share arenot suitable and that they are unsatisfactoryin practicebecause the space behind the share is much too limited forthe proper size of elevator roll and it'shearing Contrarythereto themost important feature of the invention is a conveying device,

which is intended to take the place of the ele- 25 vator and whichpresents the, advantage that it engages directly under the share, can beeasily driven, does not 'disadvantageouslylaffeet the operation of themachine, and further is particularly well suited for dealing with 80large masses. This conveying device may be so constructed, that itpartially sifts the dug ridge during conveying and'separates a portionof the earth by centrifugal. force, so

that the sifting device is relieved. If the conveying device, owing to'its special construction, doesnot'possess all these propertles, anelevator may,-1f necessary," e provided behind same. As the conveyingdevlce' is made as an-inclined centrifugal or sifting 40 wheel, thelifted potato ridge is quick] distributed and shaken apart, so that thet rowing off of the earth is facilitated. Owingto common shaft, engagepartly under the sift- .i'n'g wheel g,.and are surrounded on the cen-' Itrifugalforce side by a common adjustable 9.5

the fact that during the passageof the earth mass from the conveying. tothe sifting wheel the mass moves from one side of the machine to theother, a repeated distribution of the earth mass will occur.

Several embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of examplein the ac companyin'g drawing in which Fig. l isa part verticallongitudinal section. v r

Fig. 2 is atop plan view of Fig. 1.

. F g. 3 shows in section a modifiedform of construction of the siftingdevice. j

; ,Fig. 4 is a modified form of construction I of the conveying device.

The inclination of, the frame (1 is adjustable in relation to themachine frame 6 by means ofa hand adjusting device 0, so that 001 adepth adjustment at the same time for the I conveyingshare d and for thetravellin l of the machine I on. the highway is rendere possible. Bothframes 41,12 are suspended on the wheelaizle. .The' frame it carries theentire arrangement-for digging, separating 7' the tops, the conveyingand sifting of the. potato ridge. This arrangement consists of. v thetwo toothed coulter discs' 6 driven for: example by a sprocket wheel,which discs revolve intop catchers bent, from thick sheet steel andextending like lingers atthe front. These fingers serve for separatingthe tops? on the right as alsoon the left from the con; veying share, 0LThe top catchers f are '75 formed like sledge runners andpick up thelaid over tops. The cutting'surfaces of the coulters cannot touch theground. The shiftingjwheel adaptedto serve as'conveyor wheel- 9 ismounted upwardly inclined and rotatable 0 1 behind the share d extendingslightly below same. It is composed of a disc 2, slightly domed towardsthe middle and ofa tine rim 9? mounted thereon. The direction ofrotation is indicated by an arrow, the siftingwheel .9 being bordered onthe one side 'bya catching ringj h with catching rod or bar imountedinwardly thereof and which i V exposes a gap opposite the tine rim ofthe wheel; This gap is adjustable in width by displacing the elements.71 and it. Two superposed sifting wheels Z andz' driven by a half ringj/c which however has a turn-out k that of "the sifting wheel 'gindicated 'by arrows. The half is, set off in upward i an inner discdomed upwardly in the middle and steel tine rim mounted thereon, howeverthe u per sifting wheel Z has a' smaller disc and tines'at a widedistance apart. It is intended, to preliminarily sift the mass and tofeed potatoes and earth through its tines onto the lower sifting wheela. The catching ring I; of-the sifting wheel 9 is bent outwardly-at.

k in such a manner that it forms a guide surface for guiding the mass tothe upper sifting wheel l, whereas the opposite guiding surface isformed by the set off part of the half ring 10. In front of the turn-out70 a ridging share m is arranged, which again 0 us up the already dugfurrow. The drive 0 the wheels is effected by any suitable gearing showndiagrammatically in the drawin from the wheel axle of the machine. Theoperation is as follows Y The potato ridge, which is dug by the'conveying share it and which is'freed from the top parts on both sides bythe revolving coulters e, is caught by the siftin wheel g brushing pastbelow'tlie share, an liftedto the sifting wheels Z and i in thedirectio'nof the arrow. Owing to the centrifugal force of the q uicklyrotated siftin wheel g the mixture of earth, tops, root iibres andpotatoes is thrown outwards against the catching ring it and bar 2 Thetines of the wheel g thereby exert asifting effect on the earth. Themass is consequently not only lifted but preliminaril sifted, a lateralejectionof the earth and a mixture'occurring through the gap betweenthe'ring h or bar'z' and the tine rim 9. Consequently, an'intensivesifting already commences directly at the side of the share. Thiscircumstance alone enables .a large mass to be conveyed,- The bar 5 isintended tohold back the to s, so that they are quickly conveyed upwars. The bar prevents at the same time the tops being caught in the gapbetween the ring 72. and the this rim g and choking of the gap.

The remaining portion of the mass of earth, I tops and potatoes isquickly conveyed upwards by the sifting wheel g in the direction of thearrow along the guide surfaces It and it onto the uppersifting wheell.Owing to the fact, that the siftingwheel Z rotates in the oppositedirection to the sifting wheel 9 and its tines are wider apart, thespecial effeet is obtained, that the mass, as soon as it arrives on thesifting wheel Z, is roughly torn asunder and spread out, asboth siftingwheels separation of the topsand root fibres from the potatoes occurs.The tops, owing to the centrifugal force, pass outwards, are guidedalong the ring In and flung out at the point where the ring is cut outat k. Potatoes, earth and short pieces of stalks drop 'onto the; lowerwheel a", the latter are here flung outwards through the ga between thering the wheel rim, w ereas the potatoes arrive at the outlet of thering is on the right side of the machine in the furrow previously dug bytheyshare m, whence the potatoes, be-

ing exposed, can be taken out by hand or with a fork, filled into sacks,or intoboxes or the like by known conveying devices.

The sifting device may however-be replaced bydifferently'arranged'siftin wheels. hje sift ng devicein this instancesee Fig. 3) consists of a plurality of superposed sifting wheels g, h, iprefer'ably'arranged in slightly tapered shape on a common verticalshaft d, and a guide'disc is arranged between them. On the periphery ofeach of the sifting wheels k and 2' a guiding or catching and siftingring m and n respectively is arranged at such a distance therefrom thatsmall potatoes cannot fall through, said rings having a lateral apertureor turn-out 0. These rings are held OIlillefIBJHG adjustable for exampleby a carriage 7), holder g and set screw 1". The parts h k have'centralapertures 8 covered by the sifting wheel g. At the side of the turn-out0 a catching grid t is mounted on the machine frame, and in front ofthis grid a share it" for redigging the furrowJof'the already dug potatoridge.

The upper smaller sifting wheel 1 catches the ridge delivered by thesifting wheel 9, allows the greater portion of the earth and potatoes todrop through and delivers by centrifugal force thev remaining mixture ofearth, potatoes. and tops onto the larger sifting wheel h situatedthereunder. The mixture. is here subjected to a greater centrifugalforce, so that thepotatoes are held back by the ring m, whereas the topsand earth are flung off through the gap betweenthe ring m-and thesifting wheel h, the earth being further sifted through the wheel whereit is caught by the disc/ 0" and thrown out also by thelrota tion'thereof. T he potatoes flung by the wheel h along the ring on arrivethrough the turnout 0' with theaid afthe centrifugal force into thefurrow dug by the auxiliary share w. F orthe sifting wheelof theconveying device a sifting-wheelof different construction or anotherconveying device may be substituted. i l I In .the constructionilustrated in Fig. 4 the share d engages over, the disc 6 within therange of a lateral guide surface 1"", which is rotatably mounted on thebearing 0" for the material to be conveyed. Its drive is effected frombelow through toothed wheels (1, shaft e, chain gearing f, toothedgearing g" from the running wheel shaft h". of said sifting wheels andby the distribu' Above this disc b set at an angle at the same tion ofthe masses the material is at the same angle of inclination to theshare, a bell-shaped time sifted. disc wheel 71" is keyed on the axle keccen- In testimony whereof I atfixmy signature. 5 trically to the discI) in the disc radius, MARTIN LIGHT. 79

said axle being mounted above this wheel, if necessary, variable indistance to the disc with adjusting device. It is driven in the samedirection of rotation as the disc I) through a chain gearing m from theaxle of the disc 7 This bell-shaped wheel has ribs or bars 71* on itsperiphery. An elevator may, if necessary, further be added to theconveyor wheel constructed in this manner. The connection of the discI)" to the bell- 80 shaped wheel 2" arranged above same is thedetermining factor for the manner of operation of theconveying devicefor the ridge masses, because the share cut off at an angle above disc 6brings the ridge masses onto 85 the disc in such a manner, that they arecaught from the centre right up to the periphery of the disc I). Theyare conveyed upwar uniformly without impeding disintegrating in thedirection of the arrow, shown in the 90 drawing, until they enter intothe restricted portion formed by the guide wheel 1 and the uide Wall7"".

If behind the sifting wheel adapted to serve as conveyor wheel anelevator is also provid- 95 ed, the ridge mass will be caused to breakup in its structure, being thereby uniformly distributed onto theelevator, so that the sifting effect can begin to act on the earth mass.I claim I 1. A potato harvesting machine, comprising in combination withthe conveying share, a sitting wheel having a tine rim arranged at anincline behind said share and adapted to serve as conveyor wheel, and aninclined sift 5 ing device composed of vertically adjustable siftingrings and sifting wheels surrounded by said sifting rings adapted toconvefy ugwards and at the same time partly si t t e dug potato ridge.11c

2. A potato harvesting machine, comprisv ing in combination with theconveyor wheel and the sifting device, a half ring on the centrifugalforce side for the potato ridge surrounding said conveyor wheel, acatching rod projecting from said half rin and aturnout on the end ofsaid half ring serving as guide surface, extending over said siftingevice. 3. A potato harvesting machine as specified in claim 1 in whichthree sifting wheels are arranged superposed on a common shaft, theupper wheel having tines at a wide distance apart adapted to remove onlythe tops and to allow the earth and potatoes to fall onto a the middlesifting wheel with narrower tines than the first having apertures in itsmiddle portion through which the smaller material drops onto the ottomsiftin wheel, so that by fully utilizing the centrifugal force efi'ect v

